98 people began this Turkish human rights organization in 1986. The discussion of human rights questions after the end of the dictatorship is of particular importance for the Turkish community. Many people were tortured, killed, and oppressed in this time period. These horrible experiences left many unwilling to discuss it. The necessity for discourse was apparent with the speed with which Insan Haklari Dernegi (IHD) grew. In 1991 they had 38 offshoot groups, and over 1,500 members. They were one of the most prominent and efficient advocates of human rights in Turkey. Officials, however, always try to deter their progress. For example, two groups of theirs had to be shut down due to the imprisonment of their leader, Tunceli. In the first four years of operation hundreds of members were imprisoned. Some of the founders had been sentenced to life in prison.
The IHD hopes to bring awareness to human rights issues through commissions, publications, and the documentation of human right violations. They also advocate women and childrens rights, as well as those of refugees and minorities.
In 1989, the IHD won the Contemporary Journalist Association Award.
In 1989 they won the Contemporary Journalist Association Award.
They draw attention to individual human rights violations in Turkey, but they also release a list at the end of each year cataloging all the violations that occurred.
(http://www.ihd.org)